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Abstract #2813

Towards Simultaneous PET/MR Breast Imaging: Systematic Evaluation and Integration of an RF Breast Coil

Bassim Aklan1, Daniel H. Paulus1, David Fual2, Christian Geppert3, Eric E. Sigmund4, Amy Melsaether5, Evelyn Wenkel6, Harald Braun1, Susanne Ziegler1, Harald H. Quick1

1Institute of Medical Physics, University of Erlangen-Nuernberg, Erlangen, Germany; 2Siemens Medical Solutions, New York, , NY, United States; 3Siemens Medical Systems, New York,, NY, United States; 4Department of Radiology for Biomedical Imaging NY Langone Medical Center, New York,, NY, United States; 5Breast Imaging Section, Department of Radiology Medical Center, New York,, NY, United States; 6Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany


Simultaneous PET/MR breast imaging requires the RF breast coil necessary for MR data acquisition to be located in the FoV of the PET detector thus attenuating PET signals and reducing PET quantification accuracy. Integration of a commercial 4-channel RF breast coil on an integrated PET/MR hybrid system resulted in local PET signal attenuation of 4-16% in systematic phantom experiments. Application and registration of a CT-based attenuation map of this coil resulted in successful attenuation correction (AC). First PET/MR studies in breast cancer patients demonstrate successful integration of the RF breast coil into the new application of PET/MR breast imaging.